'Black Girls Code' encourages innovation in the Mid-South

Meka Egwuekwe gave a first hand demonstration Wednesday of what girls ages 10 to 17 will learn during the mobile app workshop.

The program's founder, Kimberly Bryant is from Memphis. She is hoping to change girls from consumers of technology to creators of it.

(WMC-TV) - An innovative program called Black Girls Code hits Memphis this weekend. The San Francisco based non-profit will host an app development workshop just for girls.

Meka Egwuekwe gave a first hand demonstration Wednesday of what girls ages 10 to 17 will learn during the mobile app workshop.

"The primary goal of the program is to encourage girls of color to consider careers in the STEM field, especially computer science," he said.

The program's founder, Kimberly Bryant is from Memphis. She is hoping to change girls from consumers of technology to creators of it.

"And also really drive change by utilizing technology as a tool and not something that they consume on a daily basis," said Bryant.

She has partnered with Egwuekwe and five other core team members to host workshops each quarter.

This year they have already hosted a website workshop and plan to host a gaming and robotics workshop, too.

"It is an honor and a blessing to be a part of something like this, and to see the look on young ladies faces when they see how easy it is to build your own mobile app and build your own web page," said Egwuekwe.

Saturday's workshop is for girls age 10 through 12. A similar workshop for girls 13 through 17 will be held August 24. Both will be hosted at the Benjamin Hooks Library.

The cost is $35 and workshops are open to all girls. For more information and a link to sign-up or sponsor a young girl click here.

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